me--why I can stand it. Maybe it won't be for long."

"Well, there's no use buoying you up with false hopes, Darcy. You'll
probably be here all summer."

"I shan't mind if I'm proved innocent at last."

"I hope we can manage that all right."

"Then you do believe in me, Colonel?"

"Of course I do! Otherwise, I wouldn't take up your case. Now don't
talk too much. I want to ask you a few questions. Answer them, and as
briefly as possible. I'll get you out of here as soon as I can. If I
hadn't been as slow as a carp I might have the right man here now in
your place."

"What do you mean, Colonel?"

"Eh? What's that? Did I say anything?" and the detective seemed
roused from a reverie, for he had spoken his last remarks in a low
voice.

"You spoke about a carp--the right man--"

"Oh, I--I was just thinking of something in Walton. Never mind me.
It's a bad habit I've been acquiring lately of thinking aloud. Now to
business!" and the colonel drew some papers from his pocket.

Darcy looked at his new friend in some surprise. Certainly the colonel
had spoken as though he might, at one time, have had a chance to get
the "right man." Did that mean the real murderer?

Darcy shook his head. His nerves were beginning to go back on him he
feared.

"Do you know Aaron Grafton?" asked the colonel.

"Oh, yes," replied Darcy. "Every one in town knows him as one of the
prominent merchants."

"Was he at the store the day of the--the day Mrs. Darcy was killed?"

"I don't remember. So many things happened--there were so many in the
place. As I think back, though, I don't remember seeing him."

"Very good. Did he ever do any business with you--I mean buy anything
in the store?"

"Why yes, I think very possibly he might. Most every one of prominence
in Colchester, at one time or another, has made purchases in our
store--some more, some less. No particular purchase made by Grafton
stands out in my mind, however."

"How about having his watch repaired?"

"I'd remember, I think, if I had fixed his watch. I'm sure I didn't.
He has a fine one, for I've seen him stop in front of our window and
compare his time with our chronometer."

"I see. Now another matter. Can you, in any way, account for the fact
that so many of the clocks in the store--clocks that, as I understand
it, ordinarily go for many days--stopped at different hours the night
of the killing? Can you explain that?"

Somewhat to the surprise of the colonel Darcy was silent for a moment.
Then the young man slowly answered:

"No. No, I can't explain it. I don't know what did it."

"Well, then I'll have to fish on that alone, I guess. I thought you,
knowing a lot about clock-works, might have some explanation. You know
most of the timepieces _were_ stopped--all of them, in fact, except the
watch in your cousin's hand?"

"Yes, I remarked that at the time. That watch was going."

"Yes, so you told me--you thought it was her heart beating."

"I wish, oh, how I wish, it _had_ been!" exclaimed Darcy in tones of
despair. "If it had been I wouldn't be here. But it's too late to
think of that now."

"Do you happen to know what became of that watch--the one in her hand?
It belonged to an East Indian, you said."

"Yes, to Singa Phut. I was to make one little adjustment in it for
him, and he was to come in early to get it. It wasn't much. The hair
spring, I think, had become caught up and it ran very fast. I planned
to do it the night before, but the light was too poor. So I made up my
mind to get up early and attend to it. But I never got the chance.
No, I don't recall what happened to that watch. I suppose the
detectives have it."

"The prosecutor did take it, but Singa Phut has it now."

"He has!" cried Darcy.

"Yes, he called at the court house and begged that it be given to him.
Said it was an ancient timepiece, which he had owned for many years,


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